Saint-Péray is a

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Amer ...

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...

'' (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Located in the southernmost part of Northern Rhône, the appellation is very small and not widely known. The production is mainly white sparkling wine, somewhat like

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, sp ...

. However, some still wine is also made. All Saint-Péray wine is

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

.Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' JP Bøger - JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. , p. 113

History

Pliny mentions the wine of Saint-Péray in his '' Natural History'', and

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

is to have said that he, when he was a young cadet in Valence, had his first experience of wine, drinking Saint-Péray. In the wine's prime in the 19th century, its sparkling wine was held in higher regard than

itself, but since then it's been down hill for the appellation. It was established as an official appellation in 1936 by which time it had shrunk to the meager 55

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

Grapes and wine

There are two allowed grapes in Saint-Péray,

Marsanne Marsanne is a white wine grape, most commonly found in the Northern Rhône region. It is often blended with Roussanne. In Savoie the grape is known as ''grosse roussette''. Outside France it is also grown in Switzerland (where it is known as ...

and

Roussanne Roussanne is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellations of Crozes-Hermitage ...

, with the former covering 90% of the planted area. A third grape "Roussette" is alleged to also be grown, but apparently only the wine growers themselves distinguish this from Roussanne.

Winemaking

Saint-Péray wines are meant to be drunk young, with 4/5 of the production being sparkling wine after the '' Methode Champenoise''. However, advances are being made with still wine.André Dominé (ed) ''"Wein"'' p. 288 Tandem Verlag GmbH, Königswinter 2004

Saint-Péray Mousseux AOC

Saint-Péray Mousseaux is a wine-growing AOC in the northern Rhône wine region of France. The wines are exclusively white sparkling wines, made from the Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. Still wines from the same region and grapes are made under the appellation Saint-Péray AOC.

References

External links

*
Cotes du Rhone Wines Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Peray AOC Rhône wine AOCs 1930s establishments in France